Pre-Holiday Season 2024: Cigars and Music

 Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Looking forward to getting some rest during the upcoming holidays. 

                      

That said, I'm also taking time to relax in the present. 

                     

Lit up a cigar and poured the last of my vodka left over from Thanksgiving.

After coming in I listened to music. 

And more music.

Watched Frosty the Snowman on broadcast television tonight. 

Christmas Eve 2019 - Kalle Anke

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Settled in for Kalle Anke at around 2:15 which is a little earlier than usual. 

I put in a DVD called Disney's Merry Christmas Songs which is a sing-a-long. I used to show it to the kids at a school a worked at a number of years ago. Great fun and lots of memories.

Didn't finish the DVD before heading to the Christmas Eve service but we watched some more of it afterward and before heading over to Mom's for fondue. 

There's been some concern in recent years that the tradition in Sweden may eventually go away as younger folks are used to on-demand watching due to DVDs and now streaming. It's my understanding that viewership, once at a height of around 50 percent of the population, has dipped to "only" a third of the population. However, home video has been around since the early 1980s and the tradition is still strong. I read that as recently as 2016 cell phone use dropped 28 percent and calls to emergency services fell 16 percent during the broadcast of the show. 

I find that my own version of Kalle Anke on the 24th provides a nice transition from the more secular aspects of the season to the more religious. 

Click on the link below for an article from Slate magazine on Kalle Anke.

https://slate.com/culture/2009/12/sweden-s-bizarre-tradition-of-watching-donald-duck-kalle-anka-cartoons-on-christmas-eve.html

Christmas Season 2017/2018 - The Snowman

Thursday, December 28, 2017

I watched The Snowman today which I haven't seen in years. The special dates to 1982 and I believe was made for British television. I remember showing it to the kids at the Catholic school I taught at back in the 90s. They loved it and so did I. It's enchanting. The scene where the snowman takes the boy on a Christmas Eve flight still touches me. I got a bit verklempt while watching it...

Holiday Season 2017 - Last Day of School

Friday, December 21, 2017

Last day of school for 2017. The kids did pretty well although by the end of the day they had a glazed looked in their eyes with a slightly evil smile and were staring at me like I was a giant wrapped package ready to be ripped apart. I held them off by having them watch Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Haven't seen Frosty for a few years so it was fun to watch. It seemed like many of the kids hadn't seen it before either so it held their attention.

Holiday Season 2016 - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Watched Rudolph tonight on DVD. A couple years ago was the 50 anniversary of the first broadcast of the show. I've been watching it on and off over most of that time. Dale says he saw it the first time it was on. 

Holiday Season 2015 - A Charlie Brown Christmas 50th Anniversary

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Dale and I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas tonight. Poor Warren doesn't know what he's missing.

Christmas Season 2014/2015 - Rudolph's Shiny New Year

Rudolph's Shiny New Year was on last night and I was curious to see it since it's probably been since the late 1970s that I have. The plot involved an overly cute baby with oversized ears and a bunch of other creepy looking characters. Whoa! At one point Dale said, "Whoever wrote the script for this must've been on some pretty heavy drugs. I agree. It was pretty trippy.

Christmas Eve 2014 - Family Guy

Caught a Christmas themed episode of Family Guy while waiting for Mom to pick me up for church. What a trip.

Christmas Eve 2013 - The Television Yule Log

After midnight Mass Dale and I stayed up for a while watching the yule log on tv. What a wonderful Christmas Eve. It was full of beauty, sentimentality, and, with the snow, even a little magic. 

Holiday Season 2013 - The Grinch

Watched the grinch tonight.

Prep and Landing: Operation Secret Santa

This was on tonight. It's a short animated feature and it's very sweet. Betty White does the voice of Mrs. Claus.

Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa

After Charlie Brown tonight was a CGI animated short from Disney called Operation Secret Santa. I'd not seen it before and found it quite cute. Betty White was the voice of Mrs. Claus.

A Charlie Brown Christmas - Television Special

A Charlie Brown Christmas was on television tonight.  It's my favorite of all the holiday specials I remember from childhood. Linus reciting from the Gospel of Luke is classic. This was the first Peanuts television special. It debuted in December of 1965 and has aired every Christmas season since.

The Elf On the Shelf

This was on television tonight. Becky used to do the Elf on the Shelf bit with the boys. They named theirs Red Fred.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

I've read the actual letter more than a few times but this is the first I've seen of this fairly recent holiday special.  It was quite well done and I must say I rather enjoyed it.

Frosty the Snowman & Frosty Returns

The animated 1969 special Frosty the Snowman, which I haven't seen in years, was on network t.v. tonight. As a kid I remember looking forward to this being on and I loved the sappy but cute story. Frosty Returns was on tonight as well. It dates from 1992 but this is the first I've ever seen it. I was quite unimpressed.

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town was on television tonight and Dale and I caught a good chunk of it. Sam, Pete and I watched this almost yearly while growing up. I loved the song as a kid and particularly liked Fred Astaire's version of it.

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

While at the gym tonight I noticed that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on network television.  The show premiered a couple of years before I was born so I've been watching it for as long as I remember.  As a kid I loved the stopped motion animation, the music, the voice characterizations (especially Burl Ives as the snowman/narrator) and, of course the hokey yet cute story.